Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has replaced the national selection committee for the third time in two years.
It was revealed on Thursday that Hasan Sardar has been named as the new head coach whereas the selection powers have been given to Islahuddin Siddiqui.
Rehan Butt and Muhammad Saqlain have been announced as national team’s assistant coaches.
Both, Hasan and Islahuddin, are celebrated names in Pakistan hockey. The former has won World Cup and Olympic hockey gold medals in his illustrious career.
The changes were made in a meeting of PHF congress and PHF president, Brig (r) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, announced the changes in a press briefing.
Disastrous Performances
Khawaja Junaid and Rashid Junior were appointed as manager and chief selector at the beginning of the current tenure of PHF leadership.
However, following the performance in World Hockey League semi-final, PHF congress was forced to make changes.
Farhat Khan then took over as the manager and Hasan Sardar as the chief selector.
That did not pan out well for Pakistan hockey either as Pakistan were humiliated in Asia Cup and a four-nation tournament in Australia.
Possible Corruption?
Despite being allocated huge sum of money by the federal government, there has been no real improvement in Pakistan hockey in terms of infrastructure, academies and coaches.
The PHF president, however, claimed that they have all the records of the money that has been given to them by the government.
We have been given Rs. 330 million and have got all the records with us.
However, no hard copies were presented to back his claim during the meeting of the congress. “No activity report was presented before the Congress members. Even the audit report was not given to Congress members,” one of the members said.
Despite everything, he maintained that there is no corruption. He said:
The PHF has never defaulted. We are not defaulters or owe money to any organization.
Meanwhile, Peshawar High Court has authorized KP Hockey Association to also attend the congress and they will demand all the hard copies of expenditure and audit reports to assess everything. Zahid, a member of KP Association, termed their duty as a ‘constitutional obligation.’
